Statehood talks alive: CM
Gulmarg, May 2: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said the April 22 Pahalgam attack had not stalled the conversation around the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir and that he had raised the issue at the recent meeting of the NITI Aayog governing council.
"No, not at all. If you were to take out the formal speech that circulated in the NITI Aayog meeting, you would find a categorical mention for the return of statehood in that ... which was given to the Prime Minister and all the members of the governing council of the NITI Aayog,î CM Omar told reporters here.
He was responding to a question about whether the Pahalgam terror attack had affected the talk about the restoration of statehood to J&K.
ìSo, the conversation around statehood has not stalled. The only thing I was unwilling to do was to use the special session of the J&K assembly to talk about statehood. But that does not mean the conversation has stopped. The conversation is ongoing,î the CM said.
On a memorial for the Pahalgam attack victims, he said a decision had been taken by the cabinet in this regard and tasked the Roads and Buildings Department to frame a concrete proposal.
"The R&B department has been asked to invite expressions of interest in terms of designs for this memorial. Once it comes, we will take it forward,î CM Omar said.
He said that J&K being a Union Territory, the law and order and security were not the responsibility of the elected government.
ìWhose responsibility is it? The Lieutenant Governorís. Therefore, clearly, there are three sets of power centres that need to coordinate to ensure that things go smoothly here. I can promote tourism, I can create the infrastructure, I can ensure that tourists come and have a good visit but the security of the tourists currently resides within the powers of the LG,î the CM said. ìThat is the point I made that the Union government, the elected government here and the central government that is represented by the Raj Bhavan ... we need to work together to ensure that what happened on April 22 does not happen again.î
He dismissed suggestions that the relations between the elected government and the Raj Bhavan were not good.
ìYou only require a thaw if there was a freeze in relations. When have you heard me alleging a freeze? I am just stating that going ahead we need to work together,î CM Omar said.
